INTERNATIONAL
In an attempt to help clarify the difference in U.S. practice from that of a recent article appearing in the journal of Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology (October 2018) questioning the effectiveness of the wash process to remove Clostridium Difficile (C-Diff) from hospital textiles, which has raised concerns from United States (U.S.) laundry healthcare customers, the Association for Linen Management (ALM) has provided a review of the two methods.
A close look at this study reveals the United Kingdom (UK) approach to processing healthcare linen relies primarily on thermal applications.
In the U.S., laundry processors have long relied on the recommendations from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): “The antimicrobial action of the laundering process results from a combination of mechanical, thermal, and chemical factors. Dilution and agitation in water remove substantial quantities of microorganisms. Detergents and surfactants function to suspend soils, reduce water surface tension, and also exhibit some microbiocidal properties.”
Link can be found here:
https://www.almnet.org/news/423486/Addressing-Concerns-for-the-U.S.-Healthcare-Wash-Process.htm
